Athletics
The school's sports teams are known as the Buffalo Bulls. However, the women's teams were originally called the Buffalo Royals.
In 1958, the football team won the Lambert Cup, emblematic of supremacy in Eastern U.S. small-college football. That led to the team's first bowl invitation, to the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida, against Florida State University. But the Bulls would be allowed to participate only if backup defensive end Mike Wilson and starting halfback Willie Evans, who were black, did not play. The team stood behind the two, and refused the bowl offer; Buffalo did not receive another bowl invitation until the 2008 season when they won the MAC championship against previously undefeated Ball State.
Several UB football stars from the 1950s and early 1960s went on to play professional football, including quarterback John Stofa with the American Football League's Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals, and defensive lineman Gerry Philbin with the AFL's New York Jets. Philbin is a member of the AFL Hall of Fame and the All-time All-AFL Team. Philbin and UB's Willie Ross were the first two UB graduates to play on professional football championship teams in the United States: Ross with the 1964 AFL Champion Buffalo Bills; and Philbin with the 1968 AFL Champion New York Jets, who also won that season's AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III). James Starks was on the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV champions as a rookie. Ramon Guzman played on the 2009 Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes.
Since 1996, the UB teams have participated in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football), in the Mid-American Conference. The mascots are 'Victor E. Bull', a blue bull with a gold nose ring, and his sister 'Victoria S. Bull'. After several years of poor performance in the two most popular college sports, men's basketball and football, the university's men's basketball team has recently begun to show some promise. In March 2005, the men's basketball team reached the Mid-American Conference Championship game, but suffered a harrowing 79-80 loss to the Ohio Bobcats, thus missing a chance for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
On March 25, 2009, the athletic department announced that the rowing program has joined the Colonial Athletic Association as an associate member. The Women's Rowing team went on to win the CAA championship in April 2010 for the first time. In May 2010, the team won the Jack & Nancy Seitz Women's Point Trophy at the Dad Vail Regatta for the third year in a row, nicknamed the "threepeat" by Head Coach Rudy Wieler.
With the hiring of Turner Gill as head football coach in 2006, UB was the only Division I-A school with an African American athletic director (Warde Manuel), men's basketball head coach (Reggie Witherspoon), and football head coach (Gill).
The university is home to the Thunder of the East marching band. The band performs at all home football games and travels to both local and national parades and competitions.
Jamey Richard, 2008 graduate of the University of Buffalo, plays in the National Football League and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the 7th round, with the 236 pick of the 2008 NFL Draft. Trevor Scott, 2008 graduate of the University of Buffalo, plays in the NFL and was selected by the Oakland Raiders. Quarterback Drew Willy, 2009 graduate of the University of Buffalo, originally signed with the Baltimore Ravens and later the practice squad of the Indianapolis Colts. He was on the active roster for the Colts for one game and was with the team for Super Bowl XLIV. He is currently on the roster of the New York Jets. James Starks (6th round, 193rd overall) now plays with the Green Bay Packers. And Naaman Roosevelt (Undrafted, started off as a player on the practice squad, but moved to the big club later on) who plays for the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo has three fight songs: "Victory March", "Go For a Touchdown", and "Buffalo Fight Song".
Read more about this topic: University At Buffalo, The State University Of New York